Bayern Rundfahrt introduces long course for five stage race

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The 2011 Bayern Rundfahrt will be one of the longest ever at 783 kilometres and will feature two stages over 200 km long for the first time. In addition the five-stage race will again feature an individual time trial in Friedberg.

The race will open with one of the long stages, 223 km from Pfarrkirchen to Freystadt, making it the longest stage to date in the history of the race. Stage two is 206 km between Freystadt to Bad Gögging. The third stage runs from Bad Gögging to Aichach, followed by the time trial in Friedberg. The race closes with a final stage from there to Moosburg.

The race runs at the same time as the Giro d'Italia, but has never suffered because of that. “There is enormous interest from the teams,” said organiser Ewald Strohmeier. “At this early point nine teams that will ride the Tour de France have already registered with us.”

It will also benefit from the nearby Berlin Velothon, a new 1.1 ranked race to be held May 22. “For the teams, it will be even more worthwhile to make the trip to Germany now, because they can take in both the Bayern Rundfahrt as well as the ProRace in Berlin,” Strohmeier said.

The race is traditionally one for the sprinters. Germans Jens Voigt and Michael Rich have both won the overall title three times. Last year's winner was Team HTC-Columbia's Maxime Monfort, who will ride for the Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project in 2011.

World time trial bronze medalist Tony Martin of HTC-Columbia, is looking forward again to the race and especially the time trial in Friedberg, where he won in 2009. “The Bayern Rundfahrt is naturally an absolute highlight n the calendar of all the German riders. The course might not look so hard on paper, but not only because of the length of the first two stages, I am sure that it won't be easy.”